Life in Order 2025 — When Smart Women Need A Lawyer to Fight for Them
Pink Magazine's Life in Order — June 2025 Issue
By Sam Bauer, Attorney
Lawyers are sometimes derisively referred to as “hired guns”, implying they will fight for whoever pays them without regard to “right” or “wrong” of the underlying conflict. The truth is, excellent lawyers fight for their clients and wage war, if required. Lawyers fight to protect their clients, especially women, from the other side’s unscrupulous conduct in litigation.
It is surprising how many people believe they can take advantage of females in litigation. Insurance companies may discount a woman’s injuries because perhaps “she’s just a stay-at-home mom.” Or, insurance defense lawyers often think “a woman won’t have the endurance to see this trial all the way to the end.”
In criminal court, defending women takes special knowledge and understanding. When a woman is charged with domestic violence, did years of abuse and threats by her partner turn her home into a prison with no other way to escape? Did the sound of her husband’s car simply coming up the driveway cause her to tremble in fear from his unpredictable temper? When a woman is charged with DUI, her lawyer has to understand that women’s bodies metabolize alcohol differently than men, and certain medications may affect women’s bodies differently than men and can have unexpected results.
One of the most common and saddest places we see women being taken advantage of is in the area of nursing home neglect. When our elderly parents—mom or dad—enter skilled care centers, they are vulnerable, as many have physical limitations and cognitive decline. Frequently, it is daughters who shoulder the burden of seeing to their aging parents’ needs. Many facilities offer exceptional care. However, many for-profit facilities are under or incorrectly staffed, yet continue to sell bed space. As the quality-of-care declines, trauma results. Patients fall because no one comes to help them to the bathroom. They can become dehydrated and malnourished, which can lead to sickness and infection. Lack of care and close attention can also lead to horrible bed sores. Pressure wounds, like bed sores, are clear indicators of neglect.
When a daughter starts to complain to the nursing staff, often she is simply ignored. Once the complaints reach the director of nursing, promises to do better are made, but nothing changes. Sometimes, the daughter contacts a lawyer while her parent is still in the facility, and we can help. Sometimes, the family waits to call until their parent has passed away, and the only remedy left is to file suit. Every time a nursing home has to pay, the goal is not simply to get a big check for the client, but to also make the facility improve the level of care they provide. In essence, each successful suit improves the quality of life and care for future patients.
As an advocate, a lawyer’s duty is to investigate the case, find and interview eyewitnesses, and uncover facts that help prove the client’s case.
Finding the right experts in sometimes very unusual fields (e.g., forensic odontology, accident reconstruction, biomechanical engineering, psychopharmacology) can be difficult. It has been repeatedly demonstrated that a law firm’s connections in the world of diverse expert witnesses provide incalculable good for the client. For instance, not every cervical spine injury at C5-C6 is the same, and every injury impacts each client differently. Your lawyer has to have the right expertise to make a jury understand that a mother who can’t lean over to pick up her 2-year-old has sustained a real and permanent loss that deserves real compensation.
An experienced lawyer will fight to get clients what is fair when an insurance company is trying to, in effect, steal from them by not paying the fair value of their claim.
Most lawyers still take every opportunity to resolve cases amicably to receive a fair settlement by representing and advocating for the client before an impartial mediator. Happily, the majority of cases settle prior to the end of mediation.
But what happens when the other side doesn’t accept a reasonable offer to settle and will not heed the advice of the mediator?
This is when a real lawyer pushes away from the mediation table instead of giving up. It is imperative to choose a lawyer you can trust to stand up and lead you away from the bargaining table and into the courtroom. There are times you cannot back down. An excellent litigation lawyer never flinches at the thought of a trial. Instead, a real lawyer will know it’s time to get out the big guns—knowledge, experience, and know-how—and fight for what you deserve.
Sam Bauer is a trial lawyer and founder/partner in Bauer & Metro, P.C. He has served as President of the Beaufort County Bar Association, President of the South Carolina Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, and Member of the Jurisprudence Section of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. He has been admitted to Practice in South Carolina Court, the United States District Court, and is a member of the Bar of the United States Supreme Court.
He is Death Penalty Certified by the South Carolina Supreme Court and is a frequent lecturer to both lawyers and judges on topics ranging from legal ethics to evidential alcohol analysis.
His major areas of practice include: Personal Injury; Medical Malpractice; Nursing Home Abuse; DUI; Defamation; Military Housing; and Criminal Defense.
Sam grew up on Hilton Head Island and is married to Mackenize Bauer. Together they have six children. In his spare time, Sam serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Hilton Head Prep School/Sea Pines Montessori Academy. With offices in Hilton Head, Bluffton and Beaufort, Sam welcomes your questions and has a passion for representing the people. Please contact him at 843-842-5297. For more information, please log onto www.bauerandmetro.com.
